honda metropolitan 49cc review

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Picture courtesy of jana shabazz.

Average Ratings

Build quality	9.5/10
Reliability	10/10
Value for Money	9.7/10
Reviewer Rating	9.6/10
Overall Rating	9.5/10

100% Recommended10 out of 10 Reviews

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By Deschions on 12th Jun 2007

Deschions's Ratings

Year Manufactured	2004
Length of ownership	Six months
Build quality	8/10
Reliability	10/10
Value for money	9/10
Overall value	10/10
Deschions's recommendation

Good Points

Reliable, very cheap to operate, and awfully fetching

Bad Points

None so far

General Comments

I've owned my Honda Metropolitan scooter for about six months now, and I'm extremely happy with it. This little vehicle allows me to zip around town, to and from work, with enormous ease and very economically. It's strong enough to handle my weight on moderate to significant hills without any problem. And with a basket mounted on the back, I can run all sorts of errands and even get two large bags of groceries home, no problem. Having been a bike rider for many years, I now wish I'd switched to a scooter sooner.

I'm not at all familiar with auto mechanics, so I'm not going to mention the specifics of many parts of this scooter. Nor am I going to regurgitate the owner manual, since I wouldn't understand the significance of that information in most cases. I'll do my best to describe the performance and experience of riding this scooter. If you need more detail, I'm sure there's a Honda website somewhere that you could access. And let the ratings fall where they may.

I decided to buy a scooter as a means of getting to work and running errands. I was inclined towards a Honda because of the good experience my husband had for many years with his Honda Accord car. The scooter proved to be a fine machine for local roads, but it is not legal for highway driving. If you're looking for a fully fledged motorcycle, the Honda Metropolitan II will not meet your needs or expectations. With almost no experience on a motorcycle, I knew that I wanted something easy to drive and not powerful enough to get me into trouble. The 49cc engine on the Metropolitan means that in some states, it doesn't need to be registered, or that the owner will not need to get a motorcycle class driver's license. Those things are not true for me in California, but they might be factors for buyers in other states.

The Metropolitan is fully automatic, so there's no need to learn to operate a clutch with the left hand and the gear shift with the foot. Despite this, the Metropolitan gets excellent mileage to the gallon. The dealer I bought it from quoted ninety miles to the gallon as an average. I don't have much trouble believing this. I probably drive my little scooter about 100 miles per month. No matter what I do, I end up shelling out as much as $3 worth of gas about once a month. I would guess that the total weight that the scooter carries around on a daily basis would be somewhere around 145 pounds. If I were a linebacker, the mileage might not be so great, but just hauling me and my backpack around, the mileage is superb.

As for power, I find that I can zip along easily at more than forty miles per hour on a flat road, when traffic conditions permit it. When starting up from a stop, the scooter is usually quicker off the mark than a car, especially the big ones. In raw terms, it may not have a lot of power, but the power to weight ratio is fantastic. If I'm on a significant incline, or if there are two bags of groceries on the scooter, or 30 pounds of books, I can definitely feel the difference in the acceleration. So this might be a scooter best suited to small and lightweight people. Even on a moderate incline, I've found the scooter can make it up to thirty miles per hour if not heavily loaded. I've yet to try it on any of the truly insane inclines to be found around the Bay Area.

The ride on this scooter feels light and agile. I've never laid the scooter on its side, but I'm sure that I could right it again by myself if necessary. It's just not all that heavy a machine. The suspension is excellent and the balance is wonderful. If I need to brake quickly, I can stop on a dime, using both the front and rear wheel brakes found on the handlebars. And as anyone who's ridden a two-wheeled vehicle of any kind, sooner or later, it is necessary. I am particularly happy with the very quiet operation of the motor. When idling, it is so quiet as to be nearly inaudible if there is any other street noise. When accelerating, the hum of the engine gets a bit louder and slightly more high-pitched. But it is never loud or shrill or annoying, even to those not riding it. I hate loud, high-pitched noises, and I wouldn't have bought this scooter unless it were very comfortable for me acoustically. With fairly small wheels, it's a good idea to avoid big potholes while riding the Metropolitan II. But even when I can't avoid them, the suspension provides enough cushion to make the bumps easily tolerable.

I had some concerns about riding this scooter in the rain. I've only done this a few times so far: once in the first rain after a long dry spell and once in fairly heavy all-day rain. I was more cautious while riding in the rain, mostly because the rain on my helmet made it harder for me to see well. The rain guard on the front of the scooter protected my legs from much of the rain. Braking didn't seem affected by the rain, though I did brake sooner and more slowly whenever possible. I definitely fall toward the more timid end of the cycle driver spectrum. So although I wondered whether I would ride during the rainy California winter, I now think that I will continue to do so. If I had ice to contend with, that would be a different decision altogether.

There are a great many convenient features that make the Metropolitan II easy and fun to operate. The Metropolitan actually has a trunk of sorts directly under the seat. It's just large enough to fit my small helmet in there, along with my riding gloves, a few bungee cords and some emergency supplies. So I never have to carry my helmet or gloves around with me, nor do I need to leave the helmet locked to the wheel and thus exposed. When I go grocery shopping, this trunk can also hold a fairly full plastic bag of groceries. There are running lights on the Metropolitan II, making it safer to drive at all times and eliminating the need to remember to turn the lights on at night. When the turn signal is engaged, there's a clearly audible clicking sound to help me remember to turn the signal off when I'm done turning. There's also a blinking light on the controls that serves as an additional reminder, at least at night. The speedometer and gas gauge are also illuminated at all times, but only noticeably so when it's dark. There's both an electric starter and a back up kickstarter, just in case the push-button electric fails for any reason.

Security features include three built-in locking devices. I can keep the front wheel locked into a significant leftward turn position by turning the key to a special position when I park. There's also a way to lock the parking stand in place so that the back wheel is off the ground. These are the two main built-in protections against theft. There's also a parking brake lock on the left grip, which is more for parking on big hills than a deterrent to theft. The small wheels make it easy to add a kryptonite lock to the front or back when parking in iffy areas.

The styling of the Metropolitan II is quite nice, with clean, simple, rounded lines somewhat evocative of the old-fashioned Vespas. I really like the uncomplicated appearance of the scooter. The color choices include a range of bold solid highlight colors combined with the standard cream that covers most of the exterior. Checkerboard or "hibiscus" highlights are also available. I think the solid colors make a very fetching appearance when combined with the cream. I get a lot of compliments on and questions about my scooter from people on the streets. I was told that the leading quarterback for Cal bought the Metropolitan II with the pink hibiscus pattern on it. I wonder how many people laugh at him.

I have never had a passenger on my scooter and I would not say that the Metropolitan II is well set up to accommodate a passenger. The seat is somewhat wedge-shaped, which is fine for a single rider with legs facing forward. I suspect a passenger would not find the back of the seat a comfortable perch, nor are footrests included as part of the standard package. Frankly, I don't think I'd take a passenger on this scooter at all.

I entered $2150 as the price I paid for this scooter. This is not the sticker price that was listed. As I recall, buying last year's model earlier this year meant that the sticker price was somewhere around $1600-1700. I bought my helmet and the back mounting basket at the same time, and paid California sales tax on everything. So $2150 was about what I paid out of pocket for the whole package. I'm absolutely delighted that I bought this scooter.

The scooter is due for its 600 mile break-in tune up in a few weeks. So far it's run absolutely perfectly, with no maintenance needed. I'll come back and edit this review if there's anything pertinent to add after that.

Total Respect: +1